Chapter 156: Apollo's Secret Trump Card
Xian Yu sat in the co-pilot seat of the reconnaissance aircraft, overlooking the true battlefield from a God’s-eye view.
“Begin!”
With a command, the “hummingbird” he was in launched four missiles equipped with large illumination warheads.
Bang!
Four small “Suns” rose sequentially above the battlefield, their intense white light illuminating everything: trenches, bunkers, tanks, all laid bare. The city wall was lit up like a long silver ribbon.
Countless FPV drones, loitering munitions, and smart missiles immediately ascended.
Oasis City's anti-aircraft fire immediately retaliated. For a moment, tracer rounds and rocket engine exhaust intertwined, becoming a rendered texture in the night sky.
Oasis City’s anti-aircraft guns and missiles were very ineffective against Cangyuan’s small-volume aircraft, and their density was completely insufficient. In the end, only about twenty loitering munitions were shot down. As for FPV and smart missiles, with their radar technology, it was difficult to achieve fire control lock.
After the first round of bombardment, all anti-aircraft positions of the city defenders were wiped out. Cangyuan's ground forces advanced fully under even more intense air strike firepower, beginning the close-range shootout that players loved most.
Half a minute later, over a hundred firing points across the five-kilometer-wide battlefield lit up, and orange-red fireballs continuously rose.
The forces commanded by Xian Yu also included 10 large Mechanical Desert Spiders, all recovered from previous dungeons.
At this time, they all switched to remote control mode. Under the players' operation, they raised their Xiewei to the height of four or five stories. Their infrared pulse lasers precisely targeted and melted the most threatening heavy fortress artillery.
Players, wearing exoskeletons, jumped into the trenches and began to kill enemies with shotguns and melee weapons. For a moment, blood and flesh flew everywhere, and gore and fear swept across the entire battlefield.
In just one minute, the city defenders' morale collapsed.
This was not war at all; it was purely a fire-power bullying.
On the other side, Ma Lou rendezvoused with Caoyuan. The fully staffed First Battle Group swept through all the rooms in the City Lord's Palace like a whirlwind.
“Caoyuan, look over there!”
Suddenly, Ma Lou pointed out the window.
Caoyuan looked in the direction he pointed and saw a large Mechanical Desert Spider, using its eight long legs, had already climbed to the top of the city wall, raising its tail high. A small red flag was tied to the tip of its tail, swaying left and right.
The city wall had been breached.
“Caoyuan, can you hear me? We’ve already blown open the city gate,” Xian Yu sent a communication. “The Executive Officer is also on his way, only 10 kilometers from here.”
“Received. Then please enter the city as soon as possible and maintain order.”
“Battalion Commander, we found a passage to the underground! It’s very deep, the bottom should be…” Dan Ta ran over to report.
“Excellent! The City Lord and Apollo should be hiding down there!” Caoyuan said confidently. “They have Power Armor, and their firepower should not be underestimated. We’ll wait for the Executive Officer and his people. At the same time, everyone, search again to see if there are any other underground passage entrances!”
“Yes!”
Li Star Time, midnight.
Cangyuan occupied over 99% of Oasis City, with only the underground of the City Lord's Palace remaining.
Lu Yuan entered the palace through the main gate, passed through the front yard and antechamber, and arrived at the luxurious main hall.
Cheering players stood around the main hall. Lu Yuan remained silent, looking up at the crystal chandelier that was two stories high.
It’s quite luxurious.
But what good is it if something really happens?
He thought he could pack up this chandelier and take it. On one hand, it would be a souvenir. On the other hand, it could constantly remind himself not to engage in things that seem glamorous but are actually superficial.
“Report!”
Caoyuan came before Lu Yuan and saluted.
“We discovered Kohl’s treasury and armory. The treasury contains a large amount of wealth. As for the firearms and ammunition in the armory, to be honest, they are very outdated for us now.”
“Hmm—where is Kohl himself?”
“No trace found. It’s presumed he’s with Omar, hiding in the abandoned underground reservoir.”
“Alright, first take me to see that treasury.”
Treasury!
Even the dignified Executive Officer of Cangyuan found it hard to resist the allure of these two words.
Kohl’s treasury, in all aspects, was an enhanced version of the Stormwind Gang’s treasury. The walls were filled with safes containing large sums of Oasis City currency.
“Do you think this person is sick?” Male God kept shaking his head. “The city is his own. He can print as much money as he wants. What’s the point of storing so much?”
A corner of the treasury was also piled with a large amount of gold bars, which, after scanning, were found to exceed 50 tons.
According to information gathered from Lao Yu, although gold is no longer hard currency in the post-apocalyptic universe, its price is still quite high because it plays an important role in the electronics industry.
After all, the natural formation conditions for gold atoms are extremely harsh, and their content throughout the universe is extremely rare.
The rest were jewels.
“Recycle the gold, properly store the Oasis City currency for now, and as for the jewelry, distribute it to the employees as spoils of war,” Lu Yuan said to Caoyuan.
“Okay.”
“Let’s enter that underground space.”
All Power Armor players came to the palace courtyard. Here stood an elegant circular building, resembling a small chapel, which housed the vertical shaft leading underground.
Black Smoke was by the well.
“Executive Officer, we’ve already sent drones down to scout. The shaft is quite deep, about 900 meters. The space below is very large, estimated to be roughly the same size as the entire above-ground urban area.”
“Are there any ambushes?” Lu Yuan asked.
“At least not directly below the shaft,” Black Smoke replied. “Apollo probably fears us dropping bombs directly down.”
At this moment, Xian Yu’s communication came through.
“The battle in the city is nearing its end. We’re cooperating well with Cheng Yun’s people and have successfully occupied Apollo’s aircraft landing field, as well as the old police station they previously commandeered.
“However, there’s a situation you must pay attention to: the armory beneath the old police station is empty! Whatever Apollo stored there should now be moved underground. There’s still a tough battle waiting for you down there.”
“Received, thank you!”
The more than 80 Power Armor players, warned, used their jetpacks to jump down the dark shaft entrance, reaching 900 meters deep underground.
Also lowered were 50 Mechanical Desert Spiders.
They served as vanguard scouts; Lu Yuan did not want his good employees to blindly explore unfamiliar terrain.
Although mentally prepared, the scale of this abandoned reservoir still surprised everyone.
It was over 200 meters high, with thousands of massive stone pillars neatly arranged, supporting the entire space like a magnificent giant's palace.
“This place is very much like that dwarf bunker in Lord of the Rings, what was it called?”
“Moria! Not a bunker, a mine.”
“Yes, it really is!”
Male God’s casual remark was met with agreement from the others.
“Speaking of which, this place is really big, it could even be a secret base.”
“Of course, 300 years ago, it stored several cubic kilometers of water.”
“Alright, no more chitchat.” Caoyuan operated his pad a few times, sending the diligent, fearless, and adorable little spiders to scout the surroundings.
With their help, the terrain was quickly surveyed. This reservoir had an irregular shape in its layout; it must have been built by prioritizing excavation in areas with softer rock.
No Apollo Soldiers were found anywhere, nor anything noteworthy, except for one slightly anomalous spot.
It was a dark passage, not very wide, about 20 meters.
“It should be over there.”
Lu Yuan and Caoyuan led the others, cautiously entering the passage.
As they reached the bend in the passage, Lu Yuan raised his right fist, signaling the entire team to stop advancing, and sent the mechanical servant army ahead, as something felt off.
If I were Omar, I would definitely set an ambush here.
Lu Yuan’s conjecture was confirmed ten seconds later.
A bright, blue-white substance flew at a speed that was not fast but certainly not slow towards the leading Mechanical Desert Spider. Upon impact, it flashed brightly, instantly vaporizing a portion of its body.
The oppressive heat then spread through the passage.
“What is this? A thermal fusion gun!?”
Ma Lou was shocked.
Although the Mechanical Desert Spider was merely a minion-level mob for Cangyuan now, the energy projectile fired from around the corner of the passage clearly surpassed the power of the individual weapons wielded by the players.
“First, scan the wreckage to determine the weapon type!” Caoyuan said to Jubian.
Jubian leaned over, standing behind the corner, and raised his scanner.
“From the damage, it can basically be confirmed that it was caused by a long-range plasma weapon. That energy projectile just now had a temperature of at least 40,000 degrees Celsius and a total energy of at least 100 megajoules!”
That’s pretty impressive…
Lu Yuan thought.
Cangyuan still hadn't mastered the technology of projecting high-temperature plasma. Otherwise, Guo Li Cheng could already be firing sword qi.
Apollo clearly didn't even have a laser emitter before, and their energy weapon tech tree was far behind Cangyuan's. Now they're directly pulling out a plasma cannon?
That doesn’t make sense, unless—
No wonder!
Now, he finally understood. Lu Yuan realized why Apollo initially believed he had stumbled upon barbarian natives who had picked up black technology. It seemed that in their own rise to power, they must have had similar experiences, having found golden age technology.
At this moment, Omar’s voice rang out from around the corner of the passage.
“Executive Officer, you indeed found this place. How about it, can you reconsider my peace proposal now?”